‘Nurturing Opera Audiences: Interactivity and Historical Interpretation in the Welsh National Opera’s Marketing Campaign for the ‘Tudors Trilogy’’

This proposed paper will examine the Welsh National Opera's 2013 'Tudor trilogy' (Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti) from the perspective of conjuring up the period for a potential audience, as interactive and multisensory marketing strategies targeted a broad demographic in the lead up to the premiere and tour.
WNO was the first to stage the entire trilogy in Britain, and gave the performances the appropriate weight in advertising terms. While we will also pay attention to various 'period' aspects of the productions to highlight how the historical period is reinterpreted for contemporary opera audiences, our main perspective will be the intricate and manifold marketing campaign structured around the performances to evoke the historical period.
In order to engage a breadth of audiences in the performances, the WNO worked in conjunction with the National Trust and offered visits to tourist attractions of the Tudor period, such as Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire. Such programmes place the emphasis on experiential learning and accessibility, affirming that viewing the operas can be part of a broader edutainment experience.
Further outreach and interactive programmes included a promenade of actors in Tudor costume greeting people in Queen Street, Cardiff and the ‘Which Tudor Are You?’ quiz on the WNO website. In addition, there were events/talks organised about how the productions interpret the historical context.
Importantly, the main marketing strategy used was not to do with the composer, librettist, director or indeed singers but – tying in with a broader renewed interested in the Tudors in Britain - with the time at which the action is set and the fascinating historical characters tackled.